


Salt in the Wound

by Orcinus_the_Orca



Series: Red Prince [1]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: But there are broken bones, Eduardo's a jerk. What else is new?, Giant robot!, Jon is really salty, Mark doesn't really do anything, My friend made this AU UwU, No Blood, Nothing too graphic though ;3, Red Prince AU, Tom has like...ten seconds of screentime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 19:52:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18817843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orcinus_the_Orca/pseuds/Orcinus_the_Orca
Summary: Jon has for years dealt with the crap given to him by Eduardo. Every day is another day for abuse for him and it is only a miracle he hasn't killed his roommates yet. Well that's to change when an old friend comes back.





	Salt in the Wound

**Author's Note:**

> This AU was made by the lovely Seer of Dreams! She is a good friend of mine and she was ever so kind to include me in this AU. She takes credit for this AU and Jon is her son so I can't fight her.
> 
> Eddsworld belongs to Edd Gould. I do not claim any characters, places, or names. I do not own anything in this other than the mind that made some creative liberties.

“Todd!”

It was when that one name was spoken that another straw was added to the camel’s back. A four lettered word that once spoken guaranteed hell on that house.

Small black eyes, once trained on the television, attempting to enjoy whatever unintelligible crap was on at that moment, turned to the front door where two men stood. One he knew far too well, the other not so much. The new one was wearing red clothing with light brown hair, their bangs nearly covering their eyes. He was being greeted by the “head” of the house in a full hug before being pulled inside.

“It’s been so long,” Eduardo said, leading the red-dressed man over to the couch. Jon watched the display, a little confused on who this guy was. He didn’t look like anything special, but one thing he knew for sure was that Eduardo was acting rather friendly towards the red-clad man.

“Todd!” Jon jumped when the name was repeated, again, this time by Mark. His purple shirted “friend” stood up and embraced this strange man as well, even going as far as to pat him on the back. Though his face didn’t reveal so, in fact, it seemed entirely blank on the outside, his inward thoughts were a mixture of anger and confusion. Who was this man? Why was he getting such a warm embrace?

“Erm, who is this?” he asked aloud, pointing at the man who was for some reason the center of everyone’s attention. Eduardo sniffed, muttering something about “being a loser” and “dying” and returned to talking with the new man. Mark, perhaps taking sympathy, did respond.

“This is Todd. I don’t think you were here, but he was our roommate until he moved away to “chase his dreams,”” he made air quotes with his fingers. The red-clothed man, apparently named Todd, chuckled nervously at the remark but didn’t say anything to it.

“Oh, I see,” Jon nodded though not at all accepting the answer. There was still a strange man in his house, and he didn’t like the answers being given to him. 

A part of him really wanted to stand up and beat this guy and scream and everything. The other part, ever so small, did not. By some miracle, he listened to that little part of him and hadn't attacked his roommates. Specifically on the roommate dressed in green. No matter how much he may have wanted to.

“So, how long will you be staying?” he asked, trying to use every fiber of his body not to raise his voice. No matter how much he wanted to.

“How long?” Eduardo scoffed, rolling his eyes as he did so. “He’s moving back in!”

“You don’t mind...do you?” The one named Todd finally spoke. The tone didn’t at all contain any negativity if anything it was the complete opposite. Jon opened his mouth to give his answer when Eduardo beat him to it.

“Pfft, it doesn’t matter. You can stay anyways!”

Jon once more had to bite back the want to scream. He was used to this behavior after all. Though it didn’t make his attitude any more than he already did. Perhaps he could get away with some coffee and hide away in his room for a few hours. Listen to some music while he avoided his other roommates. 

“Where will he stay?” Asked Mark, ever the smart one to ask the appropriate questions. 

“He can stay in his old room,” Eduardo said as he basically herded Todd onto the red couch. The red-clothed man sat down next to Jon with a bit of reluctance and still seemed uncomfortable with sitting with the blue one. 

Jon’s small black eyes blinked in confusion when he heard Eduardo’s reply. The gears slowly began to churn away in his head as realization struck. There were only three bedrooms in the house, it had been that way since he had moved in. But the third room had been vacant when it had been offered, and that’s when it hit him. After all, it was only clockwork by this point. 

“Hang on a minute,” Jon glared up at Eduardo, a hint of his fury shining in his black eyes. “That’s my room, isn’t it? Where am I meant to sleep?”

“You’re sitting on it,” Eduardo spat out. He clearly wasn’t playing this game as he took a seat by their new guest. Mark took his own place back, seeming a bit awkward now that he wasn’t in on the conversation, though seemed content with the television. Meanwhile, Jon was fuming inside. In only five minutes, he had lost own room...now he was sandwiched in between three men with no exact safe place for him to escape to. He tried to keep himself calm, it was just another piece of crap he would have to deal with. Nothing special…

 

* * *

Three weeks. It had been three, bloody weeks since Todd had moved in and Jon found his situation growing increasingly worse. Anything that had belonged to him was instantly given to the new roommate. Well, not necessarily everything as most of his blue clothing he was allowed to keep. But his room, his place on the couch, even his favorite mug were all taken from him. And given to who? To Todd of course!

Sometimes the days would be okay, almost enjoyable, but they were so far in between it could hardly be considered a difference. It really didn’t help that Eduardo was continuing his pursuit to prove he was better than their next door neighbor, Edd. The morning they had found out that Eduardo had some sort of radioactive powers had come to a shock to everyone. Only to later result in lots of tests of what he could do, most of which were inflicted on Jon himself.

After that, when the powers had disappeared, Eduardo seemed to grow a bit calmer. It had made Jon hopeful, thinking that his old friend from years of the past, had come back. He was proved entirely wrong when a couple of days later Eduardo was back to his old ways, for some reason or other. 

Meanwhile, as all of this was going on, the neighbors weren’t getting anymore quieter. At one point there had been screaming and loud explosions which resulted in some kind of snow monster. Jon has been there to see it...the others not so much. Which he could hardly be upset about considering that only a few days later, during some sort of zombie apocalypse, Mark had claimed to see how it all came to a close. It was Mark who Eduardo believe though...an apocalypse coming to an end was far more believable than a snow monster, but Jon knew his words weren’t heeded simply because it was he who was speaking them. It was just common knowledge at this point.

Jon had been sitting on his own in the living room, the only place he technically had access to aside from the bathroom, when he heard someone come running in. He blinked his eyes up to see Todd had just run into the room, his eyes quite wild with panic and his face didn’t do anything to hide it. Jon narrowed his eyes, sitting up straight and glaring at the other being. 

“What’s wrong with you?” He asked, never letting his eyes leave the red-clothed man. Todd jumped when he heard the voice, his brownish eyes growing wider than they had been before. When their eyes locked, Todd instantly relaxed and chuckled nervously. 

“Oh, nothing. Just came in after...watching the birds!”

“What? Did one of them explode?” Jon asked dryly. He settled back into his seat but he never once let his eyes off of Todd. 

Todd shifted uncomfortably, “no, of course not. That’s ridiculous! I just...I saw a big bird!”

“A big bird…?” Jon repeated with skepticism heavy in his voice. He was going to pursue further, it would have been entertaining considering how much this one man had cost him, but once again it was one man that disrupted him from this. Eduardo came marching into the room, a heavy frown on his face as he plopped down on the couch by Jon. The blue man was beginning to think he had gone unnoticed when he felt a hand whack him in the face as a green sleeved arm took hold of the TV remote. 

“That loser, Edd, has a new guy living with him,” Eduardo spat out with narrowed eyes. He took a long drink from Diet Coke, slamming it down on the table by the couch. The contents within the can sloshed around, splashing the wooden table and getting the fizzy drink on the carpet. Jon muttered a curse under his breath, knowing that it would be his responsibility to pick that up later. 

“What was that?!” Eduardo snapped his attention at Jon, eyes alight with fury. 

“I said “who?”” He lied. He was really getting good at that. A few years under this lifestyle indeed held its perks. 

Eduardo snorted, clearly skeptical, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood to argue as much. He just waved his hand, his drink sloshing in the metal can. “I don’t know, some guy in a red hoodie. He’s probably trying to copy us.”

Jon frowned and couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He knew exactly who it was from that description alone. He had lived there a few years ago before moving out of Edd’s house for some unknown reason. Jon has barely paid it any mind, but it seemed now that same guy was back and Eduardo was finally taking notice of him. 

“Oh, I think I saw him too,” Todd pitched in, but he hardly seemed comfortable with that confession. If anything, he started backing out of the room with a nervous expression. It was horribly hidden. “Seems like an interesting sort of guy. Well, I best be off.”

And with that, Todd was gone. Jon’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t make chase after him. He instead took the remote, ready to turn on something when the remote was snatched out of his hands. He huffed and folded his arms over his chest, blocking out the voice that was insulting him and just turned his attention towards the TV.

He sat there for a few hours, Mark at somewhere in the middle, came to join them watch whatever it was Eduardo had put on. Something about...cats but it didn’t have any real substance to it. Their afternoon was going peacefully when there was a loud crash, and the whole house shook. Mark was the first to his feet, racing to the front of the house where the crash had been heard.

“What was that?” Todd cried as he came running into the room. Eduardo, who was now holding a mug of...something shrugged but didn’t bother getting up from his seat.

“Hey, cool! Free sofa!”

Everyone remaining in the room unanimously agreed that they would investigate what had happened. Well, Jon and Eduardo did. Todd lingered behind, seeming unsure and nervous. When Jon got up to the door, his eyes went wide when he saw the large couch that had somehow been thrown into their house. It had utterly shattered one of their windows, and for some reason, Mark had thought it was a good idea to sit in it. 

Eduardo pulled the front door open, for whatever reason, and it seemed to be so perfectly timed to watch an angry Tom go storming by. Jon walked up to stand next to Eduardo to get a better look at the spiky-haired man as he went past.

“Wow, he looks happy,” Eduardo smirked as he swirled his drink around before taking a large sip.

“Really?” Jon rolled his eyes, leaning against the doorpost, “because he didn’t look happy to me. In fact, he seemed kind of–”

“I wish you were dead,” Jon was caught off guard by a finger pressing into his face, horrible breath, and angered filled eyes glaring into his own. Jon immediately felt the urge to punch at his roommate, and he very well would have if it hadn’t been for, surprisingly enough, Todd. The red-clothed man got in between them both, pushing Eduardo away with a nervous chuckle.

“Now, now there’s no need for that. We’re all friends here, right?” Todd asked, giving them both a hopeful smile. Eduardo sniffed and turned back into the house, slamming the door as he did so. Todd breathed a sigh of relief before walking off, now even bothering to look back at Jon. All of a sudden, he seemed to have something new on his mind.

Jon looked through the hole in the wall, trying to see if he could figure out what happened but all he could see was the demolished wall and people looking into their home. He frowned, eyes narrowing as he searched for anything that could have caused this when he heard Eduardo calling his name. Sighing, he pulled back into the house and headed back to the TV, leaving Mark to just enjoy his couch.

 

* * *

A few days later, things seemed to have gone back into normality. As far as Jon knew, Tom hadn’t returned since they had seen him go stomping off and the red hoodie guy Eduardo had seen was still living with Edd. Otherwise, everything else was the same aside from their own new roommate who wasn’t making Jon’s sanity last any longer.

Jon had been brewing himself another cup of coffee–his second one that day–when Todd had come into the room with a rather grim expression on his face. Jon barely gave him any notice, now very used to this red-clothed man’s antics and just accepting them as usual. What he couldn’t accept, however, was when Todd pulled the entire coffee machine out of the wall, hot coffee sloshing dangerously around in the carafe.

“Oi!” Jon snapped, slamming his coffee mug on the counter with a loud smack. “That’s my coffee!”

Todd just stared at him as if the other man had just insulted him. Jon had to admit, Todd didn’t look well at all. He was deathly pale with dark bags under his eyes and hair messier than usual. Jon briefly considered if maybe there was some kind of zombie in his kitchen, but he dispelled the thoughts. His current issue was with the man trying to steal his coffee from him, and he would not have it. He reached out to take the machine back, and that’s when Todd finally reacted. He stepped back, pulling the coffee machine closer to himself as he glared at the blue-clothed man with an almost animalistic glare.

“Give me my coffee,” Jon grunted making another grab for the machine. He didn’t even care if he got the device, he just wanted the drink he’d been working on for the past couple of minutes. He’d put too much time into it for it to be wasted because some guy from America wanted his machine.

They fought for the machine, at one point growing physical as Todd delivered a swift and hard punch to Jon’s jaw. It managed to force what little grip Jon had on the machine and Todd ran out of the room as fast as he possibly could. Jon groaned, rubbing at his sore face when realization hit him like a truck. His coffee had been taken him...by the same guy who had taken everything else away from him. Growling, he scrambled to his feet and made chase, tripping over his own feet as he ran down the halls. His only clue as to where Todd had run off to was the sound of a door slamming shut, and he was pretty darn sure which one. Coming to his own door, he kicked it open, eyes alight with rage and fists clenched tightly into balls. Well, they were until he saw the state his room was now in.

What had been a rather bare bones room with nothing but a few cat posters taped to the tan walls were now covered in papers and so many books and computers. It hardly looked like the room he would have slept in, the bed in complete disarray and he was pretty sure the mattress was torn. Then there was the damage to the rest of the room. There were pencil and pen marks all over the walls and floor, there was so much paper the wooden floor could hardly be seen, and then the computers. There were so many computers and radars he was surprised he hadn’t even taken notice before. Especially with all the constant beeping they were making, it was aggravating! On the window sill, there was a pair of binoculars and more pens and papers. Why they were there of all places, he didn’t know, but he had a feeling it was definitely for non-privacy reasons.

His attention was pulled away from the mess of his room when he heard Todd shuffle closer to the window. If he had looked bad in the kitchen, he worked worse in here. Perhaps it was the mess of the room, but he looked more as a mad scientist than a normal human being.

Todd finally set the coffee machine on the ground, taking a step back and holding his hands up in what Jon could interpret as surrender. Through shaking voice, the red-clothed man muttered, “I just wanted a drink.”

Unfortunately for Todd, Jon was no longer focused on the stolen coffee. The blue man gestured angrily towards the mess of the room, teeth gritted and trying to hold back a few particular words, “What happened here?! What did you do to my room?!”

Todd was shaking, taking steps back until his back hit the wall. His line of vision never left Jon. “I-I had to. It was the perfect spot...I couldn’t pass it up.”

He sounded like he was begging which annoyed Jon. He stalked up to Todd and, despite the height difference, stared down the red-clothed man. His response was a whimper and the taller man sinking lower into a sitting position.

“Perfect spot for what?! Why are you really here? There’s a completely different reason aside from ‘coming home,’ isn’t there? Come on...out with it!” he didn’t even care if he could be heard by others. He had been in this state of sleeping on the living room couch and losing all of his things to this one pathetic man. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now!

Todd whimpered again before letting his head hang low. It was perhaps a way to gather his thoughts because when he raised it, his shaking body had eased and his fearful eyes somewhat masked. “I’m here to apprehend the Red Leader.”

“Red Leader?” Jon felt his eye twitch at the name. “The Red Leader?! You’re telling me...that the reason my life has been going downhill, is because you wanted to stalk the next door neighbor!”

Todd opened his mouth to protest only for it slapped shut. His eyes went wide, his body rigid. After a moment of doing nothing but just standing there wide-eyed, he spoke. “You know?”

Jon was fuming, “Of course I know! He had a bloody automatic gun last time he was here. It’s truly a wonder no one else has found him out yet.”

Todd was at a loss of words. His mouth opened and closed in disbelief, mimicking a fish out of water. Jon made a noise of anger and stomped off, planning on getting Eduardo. He had a pretty good idea that once the “leader” of this house found out about his friend’s real intention things would begin to look up. He had just stepped out into the hall when a hand gripped his shoulder and pulled him back with a jerk.

“Wh-where are you going?” Todd stuttered out, somehow looking worse than he had before.

“Exposing you,” Jon snarled back, yanking his shoulder back. “I have dealt with more crap in this one house alone, and you haven’t made that any easier. So thanks, but I think it’s time for you to leave.”

Todd’s face contorted into one of pure horror. He jumped forward, latching his arms around Jon’s body and attempted to pull him down. It worked to some extent but not in the way Todd had been hoping for. He gasped as he was knocked backward and a full grown man fell on top of him. The breath was knocked out of him, but for some reason, he kept as tight a grip he could muster. Jon pulled out of it easily.

“You can’t,” Todd wheezed, wrapping his arms around his sore stomach. “You can’t tell them. They can’t know.”

“You should’ve thought about that before you took my room,” Jon bit back before turning away. This time he was greeted with the frown of Eduardo and the confused look of Mark. He froze in step only to snap out of his stupor and point towards the fallen Todd.

“Eduardo, Todd’s been ly-” “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Jon was taken aback by the voice as Eduardo shouldered past him and walked up to the red-clothed man on the floor. He helped Todd up, all the while glaring up at the shorter man. “Do you really expect to be able to get away with that?!”

Jon opened his mouth, a million words he wanted to say. There was so much wrong with this situation, yet here he was being treated like a villain. He looked to Mark as if seeking aid in this issue, but as always the blonde man sided with Eduardo. Jon watched as his only hope for support in this argument (could it even be considered one?) went to help support Todd onto his feet.

“B-but he’s not even here for you!” Jon tried to explain. “He was spying on Edd and his friends and–”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Eduardo growled out, leaving Todd in the care of Mark as he stalked up towards Jon. “If anything, he’s just making our job easier. You’re recording things, right?”

He addressed this question to Todd who instantly nodded. To that Jon couldn’t even argue about. He had seen the information stored within his room and knew Todd could provide lots of footage no doubt. At this point, Jon wasn’t sure he even had an argument. After all, Eduardo was standing by Todd on this one, and past experiences told him that wouldn’t be shifting. Even if the person he was siding with was technically doing something illegal.

That didn’t mean he was giving up, “Are you kidding me?” Jon motioned his hands towards Todd. “Are you seriously telling me that you side with him over me?”

Eduardo’s eyes narrowed further, hands clenching his side as he did, “Yeah, I am. And if you don’t like that maybe you shouldn’t be here anymore.”

And just like that, Jon had had it. He’d been given the opportunity, and unlike previous times he wasn’t brushing it off. “Maybe I will!” And with that, he turned on his heel.

As he marched down the hall, he couldn’t believe what he was doing and briefly wondered if this was even real. After all these years when he would be yelled at and sometimes physically abused and not once did he catch a break. Now, in a way, he was finally being freed. And it was all thanks to some random guy waltzing in and being treated like some kind of prince. Though, in a way, it stung. On the one hand, he had known Eduardo for years since they were kids even, but then suddenly this guy comes in and gets all this attention. No, Jon was not having it. 

When he had spun on his heel, he had marched right to the front door and slammed it behind him as hard as he could. As soon as he had stepped out of the house, he had that brief thought to go back in, to play it off as a joke or beg for forgiveness and then just mope on the couch. To that thought he quickly tossed away and went stomping down the sidewalk, his hands balled into tight fists. His destination was clearly set in mind as he walked into the house of Edd, Tom, and Matt.

 

* * *

 

“What are you doing here?” Tom pointed to the wanted poster where a clear picture of Tord was displayed. It seemed for once Tom wasn’t as drunk as he was clearly put together well enough to put two and two together. Unfortunately for Tord. Tord’s once slightly annoyed face turned to surprise. He honestly had not accounted for the posters, but he supposed there wasn’t much he could do about that now.

“Okay, okay, you got me,” Tord smirked as he held up his hands in surrender. He closed his eyes as if adding an extra effect to his appearance as he began moving towards the large button in the center of the room. “I only came back for something I left beh–”

He was cut off suddenly by a loud bang from somewhere else in the house. Both men blinked in surprise, wondering what it could have been when a fuming Jon from next door came storming in. Both stood in shock as the other blue man came over to where Tord stood and shoved him out of the way. It was at that moment that Tord was snapped out of his shock and speak.

“What are you doing?” Tord cried, watching as a hand hovered over the large button. “Get away from that! That is years worth of work.”

Jon made eye contact with Tord, and the gaze was hardly human. His hand was directly over the red button, barely space between the skin and the metal, “Oh, boo-hoo. Try living with those idiots for a few days. Now, if you excuse me, I have my own roommates to kill.”

The button was pressed and the other men’s eyes went wide, one of fear and the other from shock. They both watched as a tube slid out from the roof above and sucked Jon into it, pulling the shorter man into another room just by the house. Metal bars extended from within the robot to secure him in place as lights came on, illuminating the inside of where he now sat. The area began to shake as from the yard behind Edd’s home a giant, red robot rose up into the open.

It didn’t take long before Jon got the robot moving, forcing it along until in the direction of the house he had called home. Any kind of attachment he had held towards this house had already been ruined by the other roommates. As far as he was concerned, it would better to burn the place down. 

Walking up towards the house, the machine’s footfalls were obviously heard proven by the three men now standing outside. All three of them stood there, awestruck, as the giant robot grew closer and closer. Through the visor, Jon could see Todd’s mouth move but what he was saying he couldn’t tell. The red man took off running into the house, Eduardo and Mark remaining outside.

“Jon?!” Eduardo cried out, taking a step back to get a better look at the machine.

“Who else?” Jon asked through the speaker as he pressed one of the multiple buttons. A compartment full of multiple missiles was opened, and Jon took fire, three of the rockets flying out, each for a different target. One went for the house before him, the other towards the one he had come from, and the third went flying off into the city where a loud explosion could be heard. Eduardo and Mark dove for cover as the missile went flying overhead and connected with the building. The once sturdy house with a hole in its wall was reduced to nothing but fire and wood. Eduardo looked behind him, mouth widening in surprise as he saw the destruction of his home. He looked up at Jon, eyes wide and there appeared to even be hurt in them.

“Jon, I thought we were friends! Why are you doing this?” Eduardo called up to the blue man.

“Friends?” Jon repeated, his voice booming over the speaker. “Are you really this stupid?!” He moved the robot to take another step closer towards Eduardo. “I have spent years.” Another step. “Being pushed around by you.” Another step, one too dangerously close towards Eduardo’s legs. “And you use that against me?!”

Eduardo began to crawl back, using his elbows to push him back, “J-Jon, listen–”

“Don’t back away from me!” Jon pushed the robot that extra step, the metal foot landing on Eduardo’s scrambling legs. The pressure was applied, and Eduardo screamed out as the bones of his legs were crushed. No other noise but screams could be made out of Eduardo’s mouth as he slammed his head into the dirt ground behind him.

“How does it feel?” Jon cried through the speakers, pushing the foot deeper into the soil and taking Eduardo’s legs with it. “How does it feel to be crushed under someone else’s rule?!”

“Jon, stop!” Jon looked up to see Mark looking at him, desperation in his voice and face. “This isn’t right! I-I know Eduardo’s done a lot but...this isn’t the right way to do it.”

“The right way?!” Jon screamed, pointing a hand towards Mark. He was practically seething as he removed his foot from Eduardo’s legs and marched the two steps towards Mark. “I have lived here for years...I have gone with whatever you two have wanted to do, and in return I get shoved around. Then this random guy shows up, and you treat him like he’s a king. And you expect me to further ignore this?!”

Mark opened his mouth to respond but nothing he came out. He just lowered his head in shame. He whispered something under his breath, but Jon couldn’t possibly hear. He turned the machine away to face Eduardo. Unlike the green one of the group, Mark had never done anything too horrible. No...Jon wanted his message to get through to Eduardo, and he would be sure that it would.

He reached down the metal arm of the robot down to pick up the still crying man when he halted. He could hear something, something that eerily sounded like sirens, and realization dawned on him. The third missile had gone off somewhere near the city, of course, it would have attracted the attention of the authorities. He was in a giant robot, and he held no doubt he could hold them off, but it was only Eduardo he wanted, and he wasn’t too keen on being taken to prison or being on a wanted list.

“I guess this will have to continue some other day,” Jon growled out as he activated the thrusters within the robot. He felt himself slowly being lifted up in the air and hoped that this thing was as easy to fly as it was at walking.

He began to gain altitude, the remains of the two houses he had known so well starting to grow distant. He sighed in relief, a part of him glad to finally be free of that place. Though he began to wonder where he was going to go from here. One of his main reasons for staying with Eduardo in the first place was for the rent. Now he had lost that and possibly his job and so much more! He sighed, knowing he’d have to start a new life, probably out of the country when the robot began to shake. A light began to flash above him, the words “Master Override” written in bright red letters. Jon’s stomach dropped as the controls froze and the lights went out. The robot began to lose altitude as it went falling down towards the surface below. In the briefness of his mind, he found it ironic how this would be his fate. With a shout, he covered his face, never noticing the air cushions surrounding his body as the robot made an impact with the ground.

 

* * *

 

“...is showing signs of waking.”

Jon groaned at the loud voice. At least, it was loud to him with the cloudiness of his mind. He opened his eyes, wincing as light shown directly into them. Every part of his body hurt as if he had just been thrown off a 50 story building. As memories began to recollect, he realized that that very well could have been the case.

He bolted upright, his eyes growing wider, only to be forced back and feel a terrible pain in his wrists. He groaned, his headache growing worse as he tried to make sense of what had happened to him.

“Easy there,” a voice, vaguely familiar, spoke from above. Jon groaned and tried to blink his eyes open, but it really didn’t help that there was now a light shining directly into his face. He tugged at his arms, growing worried when he couldn’t get them to move in the direction he wanted them to. 

There was a sigh from above him, “Patryck, there’s really no reason to tie him down, is there?”

“But sir…” someone, most likely this Patryck, tried to object but was silenced by a shush. With a reluctant sigh, Jon began to feel his arms being released and as soon as they were, he was sitting bolt upright once more, this time proving to be successful. He whipped his head around, trying to find out where he was and who was with him. Needless to say, the man dressed in the red hoodie, who had been the one to create the giant robot, was the last person he was expecting.

“Good morning,” the red hoodie man, or rather Tord, said with a strangely friendly smile. “Glad to see you awake. You sure gave us a scare. You know, stealing my robot and all. It’s broken now, by the way.”

Jon was barely even listening, still trying to figure out what was going on. He was attempting to recollect all that had happened. He remembered stealing a giant robot and blowing a few buildings up. He remembered so vividly how he had crushed Eduardo’s legs and he got a sort of shiver, though he wasn’t sure from what. When everything in full began to come back, he immediately took a defensive. He backed away from them the farthest he could and glared at Tord.

“Where am I?”

Tord blinked before smirking and gestured around the room, “A safe place. I’m Tord, by the way, also known as Red Leader. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.” He then pointed towards the two other men in the room, who stood just opposite of Tord. “That’s Paul and Patryck,” each one raised a hand and gave a brief wave of greeting.

Jon was not amused, “I asked where I was, not for a roll call.”

Tord paused, wondering if he was being actually serious, before chuckling and walking over towards Jon, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, “It’s quite simple, Jon. You’re with us, you’re safe. Welcome home.”

Jon could hardly say a word as those two last words repeated in his head. Then, with a voice that shook with question, spoke, “...home?"


End file.
